LSU had to replace a quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy last season.
USC had to replace a quarterback who was taken No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft in the spring.
But both teams still have high hopes as they prepare to meet in their season opener Sunday night in Las Vegas.
The Tigers are ranked No. 13 in the AP poll even after Jayden Daniels left for the NFL and was drafted No. 2 overall by the Washington Commanders. The Trojans are ranked No. 23 even after Caleb Williams was taken by the Chicago Bears with the top pick.
Daniels’ successor is Garrett Nussmeier, a three-year backup who has made just one start, but in it he passed for 395 yards and three touchdowns in a victory against Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl in January.
That victory gave the Tigers 10 wins for the second time in as many seasons under head coach Brian Kelly, who hopes his third team can open the season with a victory after his first two teams opened with losses to Florida State.
“Openers are difficult,” Kelly said. “You practice so much — spring practice, preseason practice — and then you’ve got to flip it to performance where it’s your first performance and you have to execute at a high level in your opener. I think every coach has that uneasiness in the opener because they don’t know exactly what you’re going to get.”
The Tigers should be explosive again on offense with several talented skill players and an experienced line that features four players with a combined 111 starts.
“We’re going to run the ball,” LSU tackle Will Campbell said. “That’s not something we’re hiding.”
Daniels was the team’s leading rusher each of the past two seasons and the top rusher among running backs last season (Logan Diggs) transferred to Ole Miss.
Kelly tried to upgrade the defense, which was one of the worst in school history last season, by hiring former Missouri coordinator Blake Baker.
Baker’s defense will get a strong test right away from the Trojans, led by Miller Moss, the successor to Williams at QB (who preceded Daniels as the Heisman winner in 2022), and versatile playmaker Zachariah Branch.
“I am trying to continue to grow bigger, faster and stronger,” Moss said. “I want to throw the ball further, harder and throw better on the run. I’ve grown a lot emotionally this offseason. That’s my biggest area of growth in transitioning to a new role of leadership.”
Moss, like Nussmeier, has made just one start and it was an outstanding performance in a bowl game last season as he passed for 372 yards and six touchdowns in a victory against Louisville in the Holiday Bowl.
Like the Tigers, the Trojans changed coordinators after a poor defensive performance last season. The new coordinator is D’Anton Lynn, who was at UCLA last season.
The USC-LSU game is one of three games between ranked teams this weekend.
“These games are fun,” Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said. “They’re great because you look forward to it all offseason. In the first game, there’s always a sense of new excitement and waiting to see what you really are and what the opponent really is.”
